In this exclusive special report, journalist Max Blumenthal shares his firsthand experience from several weeks in Iran 🇮🇷. What is life really like behind the headlines? From bustling cities to quiet villages, political discourse to daily realities, Max offers a raw, unfiltered look at a country too often misunderstood 🌐🕊️.
This documentary-style insight dives into the culture, politics, and people of Iran — challenging Western narratives and revealing how the media often misrepresents the Iranian reality. Whether you're a student of geopolitics or just curious about the truth, this is a must-watch! 🎙️📽️
👁️🗨️ See Iran through the eyes of someone who's been there. Share this eye-opening journey and let’s talk about what the news won’t show.
#MaxBlumenthal #IranUncovered #Iran2025 #JournalismMatters #IndependentMedia #MiddleEastReport #Geopolitics #IranTruth #IranExplained #InsideIran #WesternMedia #OnTheGround #GlobalNews #DocumentaryReport #RealJournalism #IranCulture #TruthInMedia #UnfilteredIran #MiddleEastPolitics #TravelWithMax
This documentary-style insight dives into the culture, politics, and people of Iran — challenging Western narratives and revealing how the media often misrepresents the Iranian reality. Whether you're a student of geopolitics or just curious about the truth, this is a must-watch! 🎙️📽️
👁️🗨️ See Iran through the eyes of someone who's been there. Share this eye-opening journey and let’s talk about what the news won’t show.
#MaxBlumenthal #IranUncovered #Iran2025 #JournalismMatters #IndependentMedia #MiddleEastReport #Geopolitics #IranTruth #IranExplained #InsideIran #WesternMedia #OnTheGround #GlobalNews #DocumentaryReport #RealJournalism #IranCulture #TruthInMedia #UnfilteredIran #MiddleEastPolitics #TravelWithMax
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NewsTranscript
00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:30Transcription by CastingWords
01:00Transcription by CastingWords
01:30But there were certain components or issues that are directly relevant to negotiations between Iran and the US that were obvious.
01:42Number one being the economy has suffered under maximum pressure under the sanctions, which Biden had not relieved.
01:50And Trump has added new sanctions since beginning negotiations.
01:54And so everywhere I went, I mean, this is kind of an easy one to untangle.
01:59Everywhere you go, people ask where you're from.
02:01There are very few tourists there.
02:03They're very happy to see Americans there.
02:05There's no hostility toward American individuals.
02:07There is deep resentment of the US government for imposing sanctions.
02:12And everyone is suffering because of the inflation rates.
02:17The weakening of the currency.
02:18And the negotiations threw currency into a kind of rollercoaster ride where at first, as negotiations began on a positive note in Oman, Iran's currency strengthened.
02:33The rial strengthened against the dollar for the first time in a while.
02:35Then it would plummet again when Trump would make some kind of bellicose statement or attack Iran during his speech in Riyadh because pessimism would set in.
02:46And Trump would also manage to reduce oil prices when he would say, oh, a deal is within reach.
02:53And then he would say, Steve Witkoff, his negotiator, would go on ABC's this week, as he did two Sundays ago, and say, Iran must end all enrichment of uranium.
03:03And then oil prices would go up because investors would say, hey, there's not going to be a deal.
03:09So we're not going to get more Iranian oil on the market.
03:12Another takeaway was that Iran has survived maximum pressure.
03:16It survived a very intense color revolution backed by the West and its enemies.
03:22The Masa Amini woman life freedom protests left over 50 police officers dead.
03:28It was actually very violent in the final stages, and it did not dislodge the leadership.
03:35Iran has done close to $200 billion of trade under sanctions in the past year.
03:40They're producing domestically a very robust military industry.
03:47They have a nanotechnology center.
03:49They have their own Silicon Valley.
03:51They have a very thoughtful military concept for handling all sorts of threats.
03:57And so they can continue to go forward without a deal, talking to people in the streets, talking to diplomats who are close to the negotiations, talking to journalistic colleagues.
04:13There is a general sense of pessimism about the deal because of the nature of the government in Washington.
04:19That is, it is a Zionist-controlled government, and it doesn't understand how important uranium enrichment is to Iran's sense of independence, its sense of dignity, and its national development.
04:35I was able to go to the Tehran Nuclear Research Center.
04:39This is an active nuclear reactor in Tehran with a small group of journalists and academics.
04:45And, you know, you get a tour going in there in a small museum of all of the applications of civilian nuclear technology that was produced at that facility.
04:58And they produce radioisotopes that are used by as many as 1 million Iranians for cancer treatments and other medical applications, like, for example, PET scan fluid that you need to detect cancer during a PET scan, or just radiation therapy.
05:17They also use it to sterilize medical devices, to rid agricultural products of mites and other bugs.
05:26It's used for so many applications.
05:28And they have all these nuclear research centers around the country where thousands of people are trained.
05:33And when you come into that center, that reactor, you'll see a tribute to all of the nuclear scientists who were assassinated, murdered by Israel, including Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who is considered the Oppenheimer of Iran.
05:49And actually, during a briefing after the tour with the spokesman for the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, who is a veteran diplomat named Behrouz Kamovandi, I met a young man whose father was a top Iranian quantum theorist who had been murdered in front of his home by a Mossad agent.
06:09So the idea that they would stop enrichment would mean that all of these deaths took place in vain, that Iranians would lose access to nuclear technology that's supporting the medical sector, agricultural sector, and they want to diversify their energy sector, which is heavily reliant on oil.
06:26And there are two-hour blackouts every day now.
06:31So there's pessimism as long as the U.S. keeps up this red line of nuclear enrichment or the U.K. does the same.
06:41And yet there is great pressure, grassroots pressure from the population for a deal.
06:46It's favored by all sectors, according to Iran's top pollster who I spoke to, Abraham Mosany, because of the pain of sanctions.
06:56They would love to make a deal.
06:58And they would love to have better diplomatic relations with the United States.
07:03But the obstacle is in Washington and Tel Aviv.
07:07Is the issue the level of enrichment?
07:10And I realize that Wyckoff has been on both sides of this.
07:15At one point, he said 3.8, 3.9.
07:18That's when everybody rejoiced.
07:20And then, of course, the neocons and the Zionists and Trump's inner circle.
07:24Maybe Trump himself got to him and he said zero.
07:26Would the Iranians ever accept zero and lose the modern miracles of medicine that you just described that come about from the peaceful use of uranium enrichment?
07:42Would they ever agree to that voluntarily?
07:45I highly doubt it.
07:46I mean, it would mean just a complete sacrifice of their own independence and sovereignty.
07:52Iran's nuclear industry has given them a competitive edge over many of their regional rivals.
08:01And there are discussions about exporting nuclear technology or engaging in a consortium with the UAE and Saudi Arabia to historic adversaries that could actually start to foster more peaceful relations.
08:14So the nuclear industry in Iran really is essential to its national competitiveness.
08:21And I just cannot believe that they would ever, even under this reformist government, which is more conciliatory to the West than anyone would have expected after Trump ripped up the JCPOA, following the JCPOA, delivering no sanctions relief, very little sanctions relief.
08:41And then returning Iran to maximum pressure and the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani.
08:47This government has been so conciliatory.
08:50And yet that really does appear to be a red line.
08:55It just seems like they are not willing to go that far.
08:59Now, the level of enrichment definitely could be up for negotiation.
09:04And when you talk to Iranian nuclear experts, they'll say that the only area where they will stop enrichment is at weapons grade level, because that is about honoring their obligation to the nonproliferation treaty, the NPT, which, by the way, Israel does not honor.
09:24But everything below that they believe should be permissible.
09:28There's no international treaty or international law that forbids them from enriching up to like 90 percent, which, by the way, was the level of enrichment at the nuclear facility I visited in Tehran when it was developed under the Shah with U.S. assistance.
09:43They went down to 20 percent just because they couldn't keep it up.
09:48But they want, you know, 20 percent will allow naval propulsion, you know, the propulsion of submarines.
09:53That's not illegal under the NPT.
09:55So why should they give that up?
09:57But then Marco Rubio has said it needs to go down to below 3.67.
10:03And there are all these different criteria.
10:05But I think I think they'll be flexible there.
10:09But zero impossible.
10:10What is the moral or legal basis for reducing this number far below what the treaties to which Iran is a party require just to please the Israelis?
10:26Well, the Israelis won't be pleased with anything except what Netanyahu calls the Libya model, which would mean blowing up all of Iran's civilian nuclear facilities.
10:36Because they don't want the issue isn't nuclear weapons for Israel.
10:42The issue is regime change.
10:44And the weaker Iran is and the less it can produce energy, the less scientific capacity it has, the more likely it is that regime change will take place.
10:55Israel wants Iran to totally give up its deterrence.
10:57But there is a there is a camp in Iran, a very strong camp.
11:04You could even call it a dominant camp, the principalist camp, which argues that Iran should have the right to a nuclear weapon.
11:12And I can sympathize with what they're saying, because you look at the Libya model and what happened with Muammar Gaddafi wound up sodomized with a bayonet by Al Qaeda mercenaries backed by the U.S. and France operating under NATO air cover.
11:29And then you look at what happened with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader who developed not only a robust ballistic missile program domestically, which Iran also has and cooperates with, but also the ability to deliver nuclear warheads to U.S. territory in the Pacific.
11:46And what did he get?
11:47He got a meeting from Donald Trump to discuss peace, to discuss an armistice treaty for the first time in 80 years.
11:53So the model is very clear.
11:57And the reason that I think the U.S. wants to take Iran down to very low enrichment levels, if it's not going to force it to zero percent, is to prevent it from having breakout capacity, to be able to produce a nuclear warhead in a given time if it feels threatened on an existential level by Israel and the U.S. behind it.
12:18Is Iran, from your communications with politicians, military, journalists, and academics, is Iran ready, willing, and able to resist an Israeli and American-backed attack on their nuclear facilities?
12:34Well, I unfortunately didn't get any communication with any active military personnel.
12:40There was another group of journalists and academics, mostly from the West, that went to the Iranian Aerospace Center that I also went to.
12:52It's sort of like the Air and Space, a cross between the Air and Space Museum in Washington and the Rocket Museum in Huntsville, Alabama, and something totally unique to Iran.
13:06And there they show you the development of Iran's ballistic missile program, which it developed almost completely on its own without any foreign assistance, as well as its drone program, which is heavily reverse engineered from captured U.S. drones, its air defense systems, which are also domestically produced and are fairly cutting edge, and its space program.
13:30Iran has sent several satellites into space, which now have military applications.
13:36And so this is something they're also not willing to give up.
13:39The other group that went there actually got to speak to a spokesman from the IRGC, but I didn't get that level of access to be able to ask questions.
13:50And of course, I mean, he was a spokesman, so he wasn't going to answer a question like, when does True Promise 3 take place?
13:58But I was able to glean how important long-range hypersonic ballistic missiles that can change direction in order to avert the Iron Dome system in Israel and deliver these weapons to Tel Aviv in seven minutes, how important that is to Iran's deterrence, along with its drones.
14:19One of the most powerful drone programs in the world, to the point where they're actually exporting drones to Russia, Russia, which had refused in the past to assist Iran on its ballistic missile programs.
14:31What is the phrase you just used, True Promise 3?
14:34Well, we watched and discussed on your show, True Promise 1 and True Promise 2.
14:40Those were the two military retaliations by Iran against Israel for attacking its sovereign territory.
14:49And True Promise 3 was promised, I think it was after the killing of Ismail Hania inside Tehran.
14:55And then there was an Israeli attack on Iranian territory where they claimed to have taken out several S-300 air defense systems.
15:07And True Promise 3 never took place.
15:10We rolled into these negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and Oman.
15:15And I asked two seasoned Iranian diplomats who have detailed knowledge of what's taking place in the negotiations about True Promise 3, is it off the table or is it on the table?
15:28When will it happen?
15:29And what they simply said was, yes, we are willing and able to execute this if we reach an impasse in these negotiations and Israel begins to threaten us again.
15:39Trump stated yesterday, he seemed to state it reluctantly, but he stated it, that he called Netanyahu and told him not to attack Iran while the negotiations were going on.
15:52Is that realistic, that the Israelis would disrupt an American negotiation with Iran by waging an attack while the negotiations are in Rome, they're not in Iran, but while the negotiations are going on?
16:09Well, U.S. intelligence has twice leaked their leaked scenarios in which Israel was considering or planning to attack Iran in the course of these negotiations.
16:24And they did that in order to send a warning to Israel or to disrupt these plans.
16:29I mean, it's pretty clear what's going on.
16:31Trump made it clear.
16:33And this is unique.
16:35I mean, we didn't see this kind of language from Obama's team to Israel when Israel was trying to disrupt the JCPOA.
16:43But one other scenario that I think we should consider is a false flag.
16:47And I think everyone will blame Israel if there's some kind of attack, I don't know, on a U.S. naval ship or U.S. naval installation,
16:59some kind of U.S. or possibly Emirati oil installation in the Persian Gulf, which Trump was considering renaming the Arabian Gulf.
17:08I think we'd have to point the finger at Israel.
17:10This is actually the plot to a serial cable TV show called The Diplomat, where someone actually stages a false flag attack,
17:22blaming Iran for attacking a U.S. naval ship and in order to disrupt negotiations with Iran.
17:29So this is something we should all be looking out for.
17:32And I think Trump is rightly concerned that Israel would do this.
17:39What I don't think Israel can do, based on my knowledge, is Israel cannot end Iran's nuclear program by attacking Fordo or Natanz.
17:52They don't have the capacity to do it.
17:55And Iran, this is public knowledge.
17:57Iran has been reinforcing those facilities and building deeper and deeper underground.
18:02Well, what is, let me take you to Gaza.
18:08What is your understanding of the current state of food, water, medicine, and fuel getting into Gaza,
18:17bearing in mind that a retired IDF general called it staged starvation?
18:26Interesting.
18:26I mean, it is.
18:27It's staged starvation.
18:29And we can see the logic playing out now.
18:32The sinister logic.
18:35What Israel aims to do, as the Wall Street Journal reported, is to occupy 75% of the Gaza Strip.
18:41That's everything from the north, from like Jabalia, down to the Netsarim Corridor in the center,
18:48past Darabala, and push as much of the population as possible towards Rafa in the south.
18:54Because what's south of Rafa?
18:57It's the Sinai Desert.
18:58And that's the last stop before ethnic cleansing and total victory for Israel.
19:03And so in order to lure the population south, what Israel has sought to do is, first of all, destroy UNRWA,
19:10the United Nations program that has fed the Gaza Strip since 1949.
19:16And they've declared them a terrorist entity.
19:19They've locked their office in Jerusalem.
19:22And they've starved the population.
19:25And then they've set up, through a series of shell companies, two security, basically two front organizations that are supposed to replace the UN.
19:39The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and then a mercenary firm run by a veteran CIA operative named Phil Riley called Safe Reach Solutions,
19:48which is supplying the muscle along with another group called UG Solutions, I think.
19:55And they're sending American mercenaries to do static protection for these concentration camp-style hubs that they've set up in Western Rafa,
20:03where they're luring people with the promise of food, starving people.
20:06And then what they want to do is create this kind of conurbation there, where the population is stuck there in order to eat.
20:13And then Israel begins to occupy everywhere north of them.
20:16And that's the end of the Gaza Strip.
20:18It's ethnic cleansing.
20:20And these ostensibly American firms, which, according to two top Israeli opposition figures, Avigdor Lieberman and Yair Lapid,
20:30are being funded by the Mossad.
20:33The Washington Post has said there's a mystery $100 million donor.
20:37Israeli politicians are saying it's the Mossad.
20:40What these groups are doing is they're bringing Americans into the Gaza Strip to participate in the crime of the century,
20:46genocide, ethnic cleansing, and using aid as the linchpin of Israel's sinister strategy.
20:52I want you to take a look at testimony from an American surgeon from California who just spent time in the Gaza Strip.
21:05I don't know if you've seen this.
21:07It's articulate, compelling.
21:09He's probably going to be a media star.
21:11And I'm sure the Israelis don't want to hear this.
21:14But here is Dr. Feroz Sidwa at the United Nations yesterday.
21:20Chris, number 17.
21:22My name is Dr. Feroz Sidwa.
21:24I am an American trauma and critical care surgeon based in Stockton, California.
21:29I come before you today to speak about the Gaza Strip, where I volunteered twice since October 7th.
21:34The Constitution of the World Health Organization states that the health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security
21:43and is dependent on the fullest cooperation of individuals and states.
21:48I've taken this to heart, and it is the reason I volunteer in conflict zones from Haiti to Ukraine to Gaza.
21:55I did not see or treat a single combatant during my five weeks in Gaza.
21:59My patients were six-year-olds with shrapnels in their heart and bullets in their brains,
22:05and pregnant women whose pelvises had been obliterated and their fetuses cut in two while still in the womb.
22:11The medical system has not failed.
22:14It has been systematically dismantled through a sustained military campaign
22:18that has willfully violated international humanitarian law.
22:22Civilians are now dying not just from the constant airstrikes,
22:25but from acute malnutrition, sepsis, exposure, and despair.
22:29This is a man-made catastrophe.
22:31It is entirely preventable.
22:34Participating in it or not, allowing it to happen, is a choice.
22:38This is a deliberate denial of conditions necessary for life, food, shelter, water, and medicine.
22:45Preventing genocide means refusing to normalize these atrocities.
22:49It means refusing to dehumanize the Palestinians,
22:52to refuse to see them as calories counted or numbers of trucks moved.
22:56We see now that this way of thinking has brought about a human dignity crisis
23:01with an entire people on the edge of survival.
23:03Can any amount of public diplomatic or economic pressure, short of Donald Trump closing the military spigot,
23:16which, as you've said, he could do with a phone call,
23:19change the policy of the Netanyahu regime towards the murder and starvation of the Gazans?
23:25Well, no, nothing could change the policy short of starving Israel of the means to carry out the Holocaust of our time.
23:35The Trump administration and Western mainstream media have no appetite for turning the screws on Israel.
23:45I mean, why are we only seeing that testimony on social media or Al Jazeera?
23:48I was sort of out of commission on social media for several days because I was traveling.
23:54You know, I had locked my devices and so on.
23:57So I wasn't hearing anything about what's taking place in Gaza, about the horrors in Gaza,
24:03because all I could see was Western mainstream media passing through airports and they're not reporting on it.
24:09They're not telling us about the nine of ten children of a Gaza doctor who were burned to a crisp
24:17and showed up at the hospital while the doctor was operating there,
24:20about the young girl, the lone survivor filmed walking through a burning house while her family was burning alive,
24:26who barely escaped with burns all over her body,
24:29about the 11-year-old influencer who was giving tips on how to survive the genocide
24:36until Israel deliberately targeted her home and murdered her.
24:39We're not hearing these stories in Western media because Western media is run by Nazi collaborators
24:44who are collaborating with the Zionist regime that is responsible for this Holocaust.
24:51Number two, Donald Trump not only does not have the will to enforce the ceasefire that he negotiated,
24:59his negotiator, Steve Woodcoff, is acting like Israel's lawyer, as every other previous U.S. negotiator has.
25:06Edan Alexander was released by Hamas as the last American citizen, dual U.S.-Israeli national,
25:13as a goodwill gesture with the promise from Whitcoff that Israel would be forced to allow food into the Gaza Strip.
25:21And then the following day, after Alexander was let out,
25:24Whitcoff's son retweets a tweet from someone boasting that nothing was given to Hamas.
25:30They were basically duped. They were tricked.
25:32And this resonated in Iran, where I was at the time,
25:35Iranian diplomats saying we can't trust the Americans if this is the way they behave.
25:39And once again, Hamas two days ago agreed to a ceasefire proposal put forward by the Americans.
25:46Then when Netanyahu rejected it, as he always does,
25:48Whitcoff said Hamas's behavior is unacceptable.
25:52He always blames Hamas because he has to change his own terms according to Netanyahu's dictates.
25:58So none of this would have been happening for the past several months
26:01if Trump had just been able to enforce the ceasefire, but he's not.
26:05And finally, we're dealing with a satanic society in Israel.
26:13This isn't just my sort of, you know, glib conclusion that I've drawn.
26:19This is a society with an endless capacity to slaughter children as a kind of hobby
26:25and starve an entire population without any political consequence for the leadership.
26:30And this is borne out through a poll by Penn State University,
26:33one of the most comprehensive polls of Jewish-Israeli attitudes taken.
26:3882% of Jewish-Israelis support the forced expulsion of Arab citizens of Israel.
26:4456% support the forced expulsion of, sorry, 82% support fully expelling everyone from Gaza.
26:5356% support, 56% support expelling all non-Jews from Israel.
26:5947% believe the Israeli army should, quote,
27:02act like the biblical Israelites under Joshua in Jericho,
27:07killing all inhabitants of a conquered city.
27:09I could go on and on, but just one more.
27:11Just 9% of Jewish-Israeli men under 40 oppose all genocide scenarios for Palestinians.
27:19So that's who we're dealing with.
27:23And to the extent that Israel is a democracy, they have voted for genocide and the brakes are off
27:29because there's no one in Washington or Brussels able to challenge them.
27:34The Netanyahu regime just a few minutes ago, or at least CNN,
27:37is reporting that the Netanyahu regime just approved today the largest land grab.
27:47I can't call it a settlement.
27:49It's a theft of land in the West Bank in two decades.
27:53Yep.
27:54In two decades.
27:55And before that, by the way,
27:57the largest land grab took place under a labor government in Israel,
28:01under Ehud Barak, during the peace process,
28:04which was all process and no peace.
28:06So that's some important perspective.
28:08This land grab, authorized by Defense Minister Israel Katz,
28:12aims to prevent a Palestinian state by colonizing as much land as possible in the West Bank.
28:20And that means that this will not be resolved diplomatically.
28:25There's no diplomatic off-ramp with a society like the one that's been created
28:30under the ideology of Zionism in Israel.
28:34It's going to be continuous warfare for as long as a Jewish supremacist state exists
28:43in the heart of the Levant.
28:46I mean, and so we're looking at another Algeria solution,
28:49but it's going to be much bloodier than Algeria.
28:53And a different scenario than Algeria,
28:55because the French colonists in Algeria had somewhere to go.
28:58They could go home.
29:00But many Jewish Israelis, they're not willing to go.
29:04And they have nuclear weapons,
29:07which are not regulated or monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency,
29:14and which are pointed not just at their neighbors in the Middle East, but at Europe.
29:18Nuclear blackmail, a settler colonial population,
29:22driven insane by years of continuous warfare,
29:24and a government in Washington that is in thrall to Zionist ideology and pro-Israel money.
29:32It doesn't matter if the ceasefire deal was signed today for 60 days.
29:37We are looking at, unless someone does something,
29:41unless something changes in the Western system,
29:43we are looking at continuous warfare emanating from this entity in Tel Aviv.
29:48Max, you're as articulate as ever.
29:53Thank you, my dear friend.
29:54I almost forgot what it's like to listen to you.
29:57It's such an education.
29:58Thank you for letting me go.
29:59You know, I'm sorry we're still talking about this topic.
30:02As you just said, it's not going to go away until Trump does something.
30:08I don't know what will have to happen to persuade Trump, but something.
30:12But thank you, my dear friend.
30:15Were you detained at the airport this time when you returned to the United States?
30:20Were you detained by American authorities at an American airport?
30:25Yeah.
30:25Had I been, I guess I would have said something about it,
30:29but you just never know when the other shoe is going to drop or what's going to happen.
30:36But I would just advise anyone watching this, if you're traveling abroad,
30:41no matter where you're going and coming back to the U.S.,
30:44to be vigilant with your devices and everything else.
30:48Because, you know, I was detained and questioned coming back from vacation at one point.
30:55So just be vigilant, learn about digital security, and follow the gray zone.
31:01Yes, follow the gray zone.
31:02Thank you, Max.
31:03God bless you.
31:04All the best.
31:04Glad you and your family are well.
31:06We'll look forward to seeing you next week.
31:08Thank you so much.
31:08Thank you so much, Judge.
31:09Good seeing you.
31:11A great man who's irrepressible.
31:13And another one coming up shortly at five o'clock,
31:17Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
31:19Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.
31:34We'll see you next week at five o'clock.